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Zip compression going propietary?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Julio Franco, Jun 10, 2003.

  1. Julio Franco TechSpot Editor Posts: 6,051   +121

    The .zip compression format has known remarkable stability and compatibility for many years, but that may soon change. PKWare and WinZip, makers of competing compression and encryption products, are fighting over the .zip standard--which means that .zip archive files created by one program may not be accessible by the other.

    Both companies recently changed their implementations of the .zip format. In May, WinZip released a beta version of WinZip 9 that alters the .zip format. PKWare made its changes earlier, but recently posted specifications detailing its changes to the format.

    Read more: PC World.
    Julio Franco, Jun 10, 2003
    #1

  2. Phantasm66 Newcomer, in training Posts: 6,504

    I can see one company releasing .zp2 or .zppit or something. If they wanna shoot themselves in the foot, fine. There's plenty of compression standards for file archiving in this manner - .gz and so forth. What's one more? I am sure that all of these zip type file format managers like winzip, powerzip, etc will support all future formats, and if they don't then they are daft. And there will be open source programs as well, etc. I am sure of it. No major changes on the file compression format front, I am sure. (Let's hope I am right).
    Phantasm66, Jun 10, 2003
    #2

  3. Rick TechSpot Staff Posts: 6,252   +38

    All I have to say is .RAR
    Rick, Jun 10, 2003
    #3

  4. ---agissi--- TechSpot Paladin Posts: 2,369   +9

    All I have to say is .ZIP
    ---agissi---, Jun 10, 2003
    #4

  5. forciano Newcomer, in training Posts: 28

    all i have to say its all about the benjamins baby :)
    forciano, Jun 11, 2003
    #5

  6. StormBringer Newcomer, in training Posts: 2,871

    I use winrar anyway, and my preferred archive type is .rar, so let them fight it out, destroy eachother for all I care. I'm sure Winrar will support whatever comes of it, if I should need to deal with the filetype, and I will continue to "zip" things in .rar
    StormBringer, Jun 11, 2003
    #6
     

  7. Rick TechSpot Staff Posts: 6,252   +38

    Nooo...

    .RAR!
    Rick, Jun 11, 2003
    #7

  8. DigitAlex TechSpot Paladin Posts: 583

    Rar is great and have many advantages over zip

    but has a very very bid DISadvantage

    the algorithm is proprietary and i doubt there are open source versions of software to create decompress rars
    DigitAlex, Jun 11, 2003
    #8

  9. Phantasm66 Newcomer, in training Posts: 6,504

    Oh man....

    tar -zcvf ./tarball.tar.gz /path/to/dir

    how hard is that??
    Phantasm66, Jun 11, 2003
    #9

  10. DigitAlex TechSpot Paladin Posts: 583



    Why do you say that ? because Rick says RAR??
    DigitAlex, Jun 11, 2003
    #10

  11. MrGaribaldi TechSpot Ambassador Posts: 2,802

    Phant> tar.gz isn't exactly common on Windows machines...

    And how hard is the following:

    pkunzip example.zip c:\example\

    or alternatively

    pkunzip -d -o example.zip c:\example\
    (which'll restore/create the directories in the zip, and overwrite any files without prompting....)
    MrGaribaldi, Jun 12, 2003
    #11

  12. Antiorganic Newcomer, in training

    I'm tired of this "ZIP vs. RAR" nonsense.

    BZ2 is better, and it's an open standard to boot.
    Antiorganic, Jun 12, 2003
    #12

  13. Phantasm66 Newcomer, in training Posts: 6,504

    Look, tarballs rule you all. Bow your head!
    Phantasm66, Jun 13, 2003
    #13

  14. DigitAlex TechSpot Paladin Posts: 583

    i have a single word to aswer all your nonsense : STACKER

    LMAO :D
    DigitAlex, Jun 13, 2003
    #14

  15. Rick TechSpot Staff Posts: 6,252   +38

    RAR
    Rick, Jun 13, 2003
    #15

  16. DigitAlex TechSpot Paladin Posts: 583

    lol rick, this thread is going more like a new battle

    after NV vs ATI and Intel vs AMD,

    let me present you, ladies and gentlement the new contest :

    RAR vs ZIP
    DigitAlex, Jun 14, 2003
    #16
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